Beyblade
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Beyblade".

This article is about the manga and anime franchise. For the toy, see Beyblade (toy).
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Beyblade
爆転シュート・ベイブレード
(Bakuten Shūto Beiburedo)
Genre Adventure, Comedy, Sports, Shonen
Manga
Author Takao Aoki
Publisher Flag of Japan Shogakukan
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine CoroCoro Comic
Volumes 14
TV anime
Director Toshifumi Kawase
Studio Madhouse
Network Flag of Japan TV Tokyo
Original run January 8, 2001 – December 24, 2001
Episodes 51
TV anime: Beyblade V-Force
Director Tetsuo Takeuchi, Yoshio Takeuchi
Studio Nihon Animedia
Network Flag of Japan TV Tokyo
Original run January 7, 2002 – December 30, 2002
Episodes 51
TV anime: Beyblade G Revolution
Director Mitsuo Hashimoto, Toshifumi Kawase
Studio Nihon Animedia
Network Flag of Japan TV Tokyo
Original run 6 January 2003 – 29 December 2003
Episodes 52

Beyblade (爆転シュート ベイブレード Bakuten Shūto Beiburedo?, literally translates to Explosive Shooting Beyblade) is an anime and manga series about a group of kids battling with highly powerful spinning tops enchanted with sacred bit-beasts or spirits of mythical and powerful creatures. The show focuses on the battles between Beyblading teams as they compete to become the world champions. The main characters are the Bladebreakers, a team consisting of Tyson Granger, Kai Hiwatari, Ray Kon and Max Tate. During their quest to become Beyblade champions, Tyson and his friends meet many new friends, enemies and competitors whilst overcoming problems. Beyblade is an immensely popular series internationally, attracting millions of viewers since its inception.

The Beyblade anime is licensed by Nelvana in North America. The Beyblade manga, made by Takao Aoki, is published in English in North America by VIZ Media, some names are changed to match the English anime version.

Contents

Development

Beyblade began during 1999 as a manga and a series of toys in Japan. After the manga became a success, Beyblade was made into an anime, that premeried in Japan, and was later dubbed and played in several other countries. Beyblade had three seasons, a few video games and a vast line of merchandise. The show originally was broadcast from 2001 and ended in 2004 in Japan, with an attempt to revive the franchise in summer of 2008[1]. The anime is aimed at younger elementary/primary-school aged children. It is a Shōnen anime.

Aoki's most well-known work is Beyblade, which became a franchise around children who battle with spinning tops. He also made "Bakufu Slash;Kizna", "A War Story of Metal Walker" and "Mini-4WD Fighter V". Most of Aoki's manga revolve around video games or toys. His works are highly liked.

Characters

Main article: List of Beyblade characters

Anime details

See also: List of Beyblade episodes, List of Beyblade 2002 Episodes, and List of Beyblade G Revolution Episodes

Bakuten Shoot Beyblade is an anime and manga series about a group of children battling with highly powerful spinning tops enchanted with Holy Beasts or spirits of mythical and powerful creatures. The show focuses on the battles between Beyblading teams as they compete to become the world champions. The main characters are the Bladebreakers, a team consisting of Tyson Granger, Kai Hiwatari, Ray Kon and Max Tate. During their quest to become Beyblade champions, Tyson and his friends meet many new friends, enemies and competitors whilst overcoming problems. The Beyblade anime is licensed by Nelvana in North America. They have also announced that there will be a new generation of beyblades.

Both "Bakuten Shoot Beyblade" and "Metal Fight Beyblade" are two completely different Beyblade series altogether. There has been some confusion amongst Beyblade fans about season 4. There are only 3 seasons of the Bakuten Shoot Beyblade series and it is complete. The new Beyblade series "Metal Fight Beyblade" season 1 will begin it's first episode in January 2009. Most likely the new series will have a completely new story, cast. Currently it is unknown how many episodes the Metal Fight series will have or if it will be 51 episodes per season again like it was in Bakuten Shoot.

Metal Fight Beyblade!

The April 8 issue of the Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) Shimbun paper reports that Takara-Tomy is reviving the Beyblade spinning-top game franchise after a four-year hiatus this August, and will sponsor a new accompanying Beyblade anime starting January, 2009. Takara-Tomy is aiming for 20 billion yen (about US $200 million) in yearly revenue by next year, and will improve the new tops by making them out of metal instead of plastic.

Takara-Tomy launched the game franchise in 1999, and sponsored three anime series between 2001 and 2003: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, Bakuten Shoot Beyblade 2002 (Beyblade V-Force), and Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G-Revolution. Nelvana (Bakugan, Medabots) released all three in Canada and the United States, with the last new episode airing in 2005. Viz Media released Takao Aoki's manga spinoff, although a new manga series has yet to be announced.

Media

Merchandise

Beyblade had a cult following in 2002 and 2003 by many children when the series' popular spinning top toy was released and became a fad[1]. It locked into place on a stand until a person "ripped" the cord through causing the toy to fall and spin. Often times the tops had designs on them and had rough edges allowing them to battle other beyblades.

Movie

Beyblade: The Movie - Fierce Battle (爆転シュート ベイブレード THE MOVIE 激闘!!タカオVS大地 Bakuten Shūto Beiburedo The Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs Daichi?) is chronologically set between second and third seasons, even though Daichi appears in the movie. A new Beyblade team named Shadow Bladers (consisting of new beybladers Steven, Ashley, Daniel, and Henry) was introduced.

After Tyson won Japanese BBA tournament, Daichi challenges him inside the stadium. Meanwhile, Professor Tengai discovers an ancient warning of the dark spirits inside a cave on the island. When Daichi's Beyblade starts glowing during the beybattle, the dark bit beast from the Demon Rock Island starts possessing Tengai's students. The Shadow Bladers seek Daichi's bit beast, Strata Dragoon, in order to release the bit beasts from the ruins. After the Shadow Bladers captured Daichi and Strata Dragoon, the dark bit beasts possess Daichi and are intent to reunite with the four sacred beasts, Dragoon, Dranzer, Driger, and Draciel.

The original movie storyline was also featured in volume 14 of the Beyblade manga books, but ended on a cliff hanger due to being released on DVD. Characters in the original timeline also include China, Ping Pong, and Sarenia

VHS/DVD Releases

The popularity of Beyblade in Japan was popular enough to have VHS and DVD releases of the show. In Japan all of the episodes have been released on VHS and DVD. The Beyblade 2001 DVDs first two volumes had three episodes a piece and were sold new at 4,200 yen per DVD. The rest of season one that had five episodes were sold new at 5,500 yen. The Japanese Beyblade DVDs first season titles were Called SHOOT (plus the volume number). The Beyblade 2002 DVDs were released in two separate titles. Blader Project (Vol 1~10) and BB Victory (Vol 1~8). G Revolution the volumes were called by the series name G Revolution and the volume number. There are 17 DVD volumes in G Revolution.

When Beyblade got dubbed by Nelvana, the USA DVDs all of the first season were only released in Nelvana TV dub edited. The second season V-Force DVDs have only got released in Australia in a box set of 12 episodes for now at least. When Beyblade G Revolution was the next season that Nelvana dubbed, Funimation released them on DVD. Volumes one to four were edited-only English dub, but then due to fan outcry, Volume five onwards contains the original Japanese episodes as well as the dubbed version. Volume five and six were released but no new releases have been confirmed.

Video games

There have been several video games based on the show, spanning the Game Boy Advance and the PlayStation. However, as is the case with many video games based on licensed properties these games have been critically panned. A DS game titled Metal Fight Beyblade DS is to be released Spring 2009. Strangely, its not being produced by Takara Tomy but by HudsonGameNavi. [2]

Broadcasting Blocking Issues

Changes in the English version

Beyblade was significantly changed to make it more palatable for a western audience. The most notable of the changes include:

  • The phrase "Go Shoot" was replaced with "Let it Rip", possibly to avoid references to gun violence, but the official reasoning is unknown.
  • New intro/opening sequences containing scenes from episodes and the original intro/opening sequences.
  • Several characters' names were changed, many characters having their Japanese names changed to English alternatives. The original ones can be found on the list of Beyblade characters.
  • Instrumental soundtracks were changed to punk and metal style music, with lyrics. There wasn't any original Japanese soundtrack remaining.
  • Sound effects are changed to familiar American sound effects. There weren't any original Japanese sound effects remaining.
  • Logos originally displayed in Japanese were redesigned in English.
  • In V-Force dubbing, the name of Ray's new beyblade Driger-V was mistakenly(?) called "Driger 5". However, the "V" actually stands for "Vulcan". But seeing as "V" is the Roman numeral for "5", it's easy to guess how this mix-up occurred.
  • AJ Topper and Brad Best were added to make comments about the tournaments. They did not exist in the original instead, Blader DJ filled this role.
  • Kenny's bitbeast, Dizzara (aka "Dizzi"), was added for comic relief during the first two seasons. It was said in the dub version that she accidentally entered his laptop causing her to speak. Dizzi did not appear in the third season.
  • Before every official fight, a small scene talking about the bladers and the stadium appears. First, it shows the stadium, in different angles, with its name. Then it shows an image of the blader, his/her attack, defense and endurance points, name and special attack. An image and name of the bit beast also appears.
  • Elements of the dialogue were also changed.
  • Every episode and season had its title changed from its Japanese counterpart, except for the third season's title (G-Revolution).
  • Many team names were changed in the English dub. (e.g. Team BBA was changed to Bladebreakers). The only two teams to not have their names changed were the BBA Revolution and BEGA (also known as Justice 5), both of which come from the third season Beyblade G-Revolution
  • Originally the Beyblade name and the bit-beast name was different; for example, instead of Dragoon for both the blade and the bit-beast, it was Dragoon for the blade and Seiryuu for the bit-beast.
  • The characters were younger in the original with Tyson starting the series at ten instead of twelve, with the rest of the team aged accordingly.

Fan reaction to these changes were mixed. Hardcore fans disliked the dubbed version of Beyblade and used the original Japanese versions as references instead. It should be noted that in the pilot, Tyson says winder, the original name of the tool, rather than ripcord. It should also be noted that in V-Force, whenever a bit-beasts' data was shown, its original name is shown (e.g. Seiryu rather than Dragoon).

Seasonal Themes

First season:

  • Let's Beyblade (opening theme) - Lukas Rossi
  • Never gonna take me down - Anthony Vanderburgh
  • Let's go Beybladers - Krystal Band
  • Heavyweight Generation Beyblades
  • All Across the Nation - The Black Europeans
  • Swing Low

Second season:

  • Underdog - Mudd
  • Always be in the game - Jason Dean Bennison
  • Switchblade - Lenz

Third season:

  • Rise Above the Storm
  • I'm Not Going Down
  • Hang On

External links

  1. ^ Lycos 50 - Beyblade, The Other Toy Fad

English

Japanese

Beyblade
Characters Hiro Granger | Tyson Granger | Kai Hiwatari | Kenny | Ray Kon | Daichi Sumeragi | Hilary Tachibana | Max Tate | Others
Teams Bladebreakers | White Tigers | All Starz | Dark Bladers | Majestics | Demolition Boys | Team Psykick | Saint Shields | King & Queen | Barthez Battalion | F-Dynasty | BEGA League
Media Season 1-Beyblade 2000 | Season 2 - V-Force | Season 3 - G-Revolution | The Movie: Fierce Battle | Manga
Games Beyblade (GBC) | Beyblade (PS) | Beyblade 2 | BeyBlade: Super Tournament Battle | Beyblade: GRevolution | Beyblade Ultimate Blader Jam | Bakuten Shoot Beyblade 2002: Takao Version, Daichi Version
Other Timeline | Bit-beast | Toys | Trading card game
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